Stephen Harper’s new cabinet features new blood, more women and maintains economic team (with video)

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled a larger ministerial team Monday he hopes will help his Conservative government overcome recent scandals and win the next election, injecting new blood and more women into cabinet while maintaining most of his economic team.

Harper significantly shuffled his front bench as part of a “generational change” that sees his cabinet grow in size by a couple of portfolios to 39 ministers (including the prime minister), while promoting some strong performers and punting a handful of others from his inner circle.

The prime minister also announced he will outline a “renewed policy agenda” this fall with a Speech from the Throne that will focus on the economy, promoting safe streets, celebrating the country’s history and promoting Canada’s interests on the world stage.

The government hopes the cabinet shakeup can help improve its sagging popularity in the polls and, for at least the time being, change the channel on the Senate expenses scandal and associated RCMP investigation that has embroiled the Prime Minister’s Office.

Harper announced his new cabinet Monday on his official Twitter account — bypassing the mainstream media in the process — tweeting each of his ministers and their portfolios over the course of about one hour.

“This is a good mixture of some young and promising talent we have in our caucus and some experienced hands, and obviously we’ll be giving more details of our policy plans when the House returns in the fall,” Harper told reporters following the shuffle.

The prime minister said his team is deep and talented, and that younger MPs are ready for more responsibility. While the new cabinet includes many fresh faces, several of Harper’s trusted ministers remain around the cabinet table and in familiar positions.

Indeed, opposition parties said the cabinet shuffle may bring in new faces but will do little to change the tone or management of the government.

The official Opposition New Democrats called the shuffle “underwhelming,” arguing that key portfolios such as finance and foreign affairs remained unchanged, while the number of women in cabinet only marginally increased.

“It doesn’t signal to me any real change in direction,” NDP deputy leader Megan Leslie said at a news conference in Ottawa.

“Is this setting the stage for the throne speech? Probably. Will the throne speech be as underwhelming as this cabinet shuffle? I can only imagine.”

Jason Kenney, one of Harper’s trusted lieutenants, moves from Immigration to become the new minister of Employment and Social Development (formerly HRSDC) — another important economic portfolio for the government as it looks to address labour shortages in parts of the country and concerns over employment insurance in other regions.

Duane Bratt, political analyst at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the main economic ministers were left in place to handle key issues for the government: Flaherty to eliminate the deficit, Oliver to push for the Keystone XL and other pipelines, and Fast on the Canada-EU free-trade negotiations and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Having Kenney take over in Employment and Social Development can only mean the traditionally sleepy portfolio will now become a lot more important for the government, he argued.

“Wherever Kenney goes, that portfolio is now important,” Bratt said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird also remains in his portfolio, but there are also several major changes to the front bench.

James Moore received what observers believe was an overdue promotion, and becomes the new Industry minister, after moving over from Heritage, while Rona Ambrose will be the new Health minister after previously serving in Public Works.

Diane Finley moves to Public Works from what is now Employment and Social Development.

Steven Blaney also received a big promotion to minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, taking over from Vic Toews, who retired from politics.

Leona Aglukkaq is the new minister of Environment along with minister for the Arctic Council. She takes over in Environment from Peter Kent, who was booted from cabinet, following repeated delays on pledges to create greenhouse gas regulations for the oil and gas sector.

A number of new women were appointed to Harper’s cabinet — although some of the posts were junior positions — including: Shelly Glover as new minister of Heritage, Kellie Leitch the new minister of Labour, Michelle Rempel as minister of state (Western Economic Diversification), and Candice Bergen as minister of state (Social Development).

Many political observers believed Rempel would receive a more significant promotion and become a full minister.

The number of women in cabinet increased to 12 — or about 31 per cent of the of the total ministry — from 10 female ministers in the previous cabinet.

One-third of the cabinet members hold junior minister of state portfolios. The average age of cabinet members is now 51 years, down from 55 in the previous cabinet.

Bratt said the cabinet changes were major in quantity, but “nothing changed” in the core portfolios.

“Generational change, yeah, on the margins, but not where it matters,” Bratt said.

“The message is, I think, aimed much more at the Conservative caucus than it is to the Canadian people. It’s really about renewal of the cabinet,” he said.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said the cabinet shuffle will not provide any real change in the direction of government that Canadians are looking for, and that power remains concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office.

“It is clear that the only minister who has any power in this government is the prime minister. Today’s shuffle does not change that,” Trudeau said in a statement.

Other key changes saw Rob Nicholson become the new Defence minister at a time the department is facing billions of dollars in cuts, swapping spots with Peter MacKay, who takes over as Justice minister.

Rising star Chris Alexander, formerly a parliamentary secretary, takes over from Kenney as minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Christian Paradis, formerly at Industry, moves over to be minister of International Development and minister for La Francophonie, in a demotion for someone who was a key Quebec minister for the Harper government.

Lisa Raitt moves to Transport from Labour, taking over part of the duties of Denis Lebel, who is now minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs. Lebel also takes over as Harper’s top lieutenant in Quebec, a job that Paradis previously held.

Peter Van Loan remains leader of the government in the House of Commons, but as expected, Harper did not appoint a leader of the government in the Senate following Marjory LeBreton’s decision to step down from the position earlier this month.

Alberta Conservative MP Kevin Sorenson received a significant promotion, as he was appointed from the backbench to junior finance minister (minister of state for Finance), replacing Ted Menzies, who announced he won’t be seeking re-election.

In another interesting move, Harper appointed John Duncan back into cabinet as minister of state and chief government whip. Duncan resigned from cabinet in February after admitting to improperly writing a letter to a tax court on behalf of a constituent.

Keith Beardsley, Harper’s former deputy chief of staff and now a strategist with True North Public Affairs, said the prime minister’s shuffle signals the economy will remain his priority heading into the fall session and next election in 2015.

Flaherty and Clement still have their hands on the money levers in government, while Kenney moves over to an important portfolio to manage the multibillion-dollar Canada Job Grant and employment insurance programs.

Moreover, Moore, a strong performer in cabinet, replaces a “relatively ineffective minister” in Paradis in the important Industry portfolio, he noted.

“The economic focus is still there. The optics are much better; there’s a lot of youth coming into the cabinet, there’s more women in cabinet, so he’s handled the optics side of it as well,” Beardsley said.

Peter MacKay snaps a photo of the media as he sits beside Leona Aglukkaq, left, and Diane Finley during a cabinet group photo following a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq laughs as she is sworn in. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Chris Alexander is sworn in as the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, front centre, poses for a group photo with the Cabinet. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Senior Parliament Hill reporter for the Ottawa Citizen, politics junkie, wannabe pro golfer and someone who has wordsmithed at newspapers in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan. I've covered politics at... read more every level, including city hall in Ottawa and Calgary, the Alberta legislature in Edmonton and now back in Ottawa covering the Hill.View author's profile